Central Bohemia - the Benešov and Sázava basin area

This area has attracted great attention
since time immemorial – there is even
a legend here of mythical knights inside the
mountain prepared to help the nation in
times of great danger. Blaník Mountain,
where this fabled army is said to be sleeping,
is located about 20 km southeast of Benešov.
The network of small Romanesque churches
(Neustupov, Libouň, Pravonín, Kondrac
and Chvojen na Benešovsku, Týnec, Poříčí,
Hrusice and Rovná in Posázaví) testify to
the success of medieval colonization efforts
that reach back to the 10th century. The
most impressive is most likely the rotunda
in Týnec nad Sázavou, whose core was
created in the first part of the 12th century.
The tower was added at the turn of the 12th
and 13th centuries, giving the church its
monumental character.

Sázava Monastery

Colonization of the region was
strengthened by the hermit St. Procopius
(ca. 970-1053), originally a priest, who left to
inhabit the “deserted” Sázava River valley in
the beginning of the 11th century. A monastic
settlement gradually formed around his
hermitage, made up of disciples who wished
to live by the saint’s methods. This laid the
foundation for the monastic community,
the future Sázava Monastery. The Old
Church Slavonic liturgy was maintained in
the monastery up until the end of the 11th
century, when it was replaced by the Latin
liturgy in 1096. The art-loving abbots had
the monastery meliorated by the most
capable artists of the day, and many of them
were active artists themselves (including the
goldsmith and enameler Reginart of Mety
and Abbot Božetěch). The monastery’s oldest
structures were built around 1070, but
many of them unfortunately did not
survive. The architecturally most valuable
phase of construction, in the 14th century,
also remained unfinished. The monastery
suffered damage during the Hussite Wars
from 1420 to 1437, the monks were expelled
in 1421, and a new period of prosperity finally
arrived after the Thirty Years’ War, bringing
the Baroque period of the end of the 17th
century and the middle of the 18th century.
The most valuable parts of the interior
furnishings include the decorations of the
capitulary hall from 1340 with its cycle of
murals, and the Late Baroque furnishings of
the Churches of the Virgin Mary and St.
John the Baptist. The floorboards of the
eastern wing of the monastery and Church of
St. Procopius still reveal pieces of wood from
the first hermitage buildings.

Konopiště Castle

The Konopiště Castle stands west of
Benešov. The original fortified castle from
the early 14th century was replaced by
another castle in the first half of the 16th
century. The castle was expanded further
from the 17th century and improved. It
was the Baroque reconstruction on the
plans of F. M. Kaňka after 1725 which
particularly provided new opportunities
to excellent artists, including M. B. Braun.
The castle’s present appearance is the
work of architect Josef Mocker who had
it rebuilt in Neo-Gothic style from 1889 to
1894. In 1887, Konopiště was purchased
by the successor to the Habsburg
throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand
d’Este, who planned to reconstruct it
into a splendid residence for himself
as new Emperor. He refined the castle
complex, for example, with the addition
of an English park. It was actually from
Konopiště that Franz Ferdinand and his
wife left in June of 1914 on their fateful
journey to Sarajevo, where he was
assassinated on 28 June.

Český Šternberk Castle

Founded around 1241 by Zdeslav of Divišov (later
of Šternberk) and named after the family's coat of
arms, a golden eight-pointed star. It was common
at the time to Germanise names, hence Sternberg
(literally, "Star Mountain"). The castle still belongs
to the Šternberk family today. In 1467, the castle
was conquered and later reconstructed into Late
Gothic style. It underwent extensive reconstructions
in Early Baroque style in the late 17th century, then
was electrified and equipped with running water
and central heating in the early 20th century.
A tour of the castle includes 15 richly furnished
rooms featuring portraits of important family
members and describing their lifestyles. You'll also
see a unique collection of Šternberk copperplate
engravings from the period of the Thirty Years' War,
which is one of the largest monothematic collections
of graphic prints in Europe. www.hradceskysternberk.cz

The power of the rulers was never
demonstrated too strongly in this region,
but who the ruler actually was is suggested
by a number of “proud” aristocratic
residences adorning the landscape. The
Renaissance provided a rich transition from
medieval traditions. Baroque cavaliers
outdid each other in the grandiosity of
their own residences, and their successors
were no less active. This is shown, for
example, in the Late Baroque chateau
in Vrchotovy Janovice. It came about
through a reconstruction of a Renaissance
castle from 1600 which itself had replaced
an original Gothic fortress from the middle
14th century. The building underwent
re-Gothicization in 1858. A similar fate
was enjoyed by the chateau in Zruč nad
Sázavou.

Vlašim

The Late Renaissance castle in
Vlašim was built around 1600 from an
original Gothic castle from the 14th century.
The appearance of the castle today is from
a reconstruction from the end of the 18th
and first half of the 19th century. This period
also gave rise to its romantic park, one of
the largest in Bohemia. Romanticism here
was applied in its Chinese Pavilion, the Neo-
Gothic gates, and in the “Old Castle”. The
Gothic period in Vlašim is represented by the
Church of St. Giles, and the Loretta buildings
from the beginning of the 18th century are
also notable, standing on a forested hill on
the way to Vračovice.

Chateau in Jemniště

The chateau in Jemniště is a new work
of Baroque architecture by F. M. Kaňka,
completed in 1724. The authors of the
sculpted decorations are M. B. Brun and L.
Widman, and the paintings are mostly the
work of V. V. Reiner. The chateau gallery of
portraits was expanded in the beginning
of the 19th century by the superb Baroque
and Empire portraitist and painter Antonín
Machek (1775-1844).

Benešov

The area’s natural economic centre is
Benešov, a city with an eight-pointed
gold star in its coat of arms, and once the centre of the powerful Benešovic family.
The city’s architecture is mostly Baroque
and Art Nouveau. The decoration of the
modernistic buildings here were often the
work of renowned artists such as B. Stefan.
Of the number of Baroque buildings, the most
remarkable is undoubtedly the Church of St.
Anne with its Piarist college (1705-1715) from
G. B. Alliprandi. One of the oldest buildings
to be preserved is the Gothic Church of St.
Nicholas, reconstructed many times and now
containing Baroque furnishings, the result of
the workshop of the famous M. B. Braun.